Ryan Fitzpatrick dropped back into a clean pocket, loaded his weight back onto his right leg and heaved an on-target pass to a streaking Tampa Bay Buccaneers teammate deep downfield -- a statement that applies to not one play, but many from Sunday's shocking 48-40 New Orleans Saints defeat.

There are plenty of concerning items for the Saints to choose from their 48-40 season-opening loss to the Buccaneers in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, but here is the one that stood out among the rest: When Tampa Bay took its shots, and it took a lot of them, it more often than not connected.

"Giving a good quarterback in this league time to throw, and then you have talented wide receivers," said Saints coach Sean Payton, "it's not a good combination."

The Buccaneers gashed the Saints for 417 yards through the air despite only attempting 28 passes. They averaged 14.9 yards per attempt, the highest per-pass average since 1972 by a team that attempted 28 or more passes according to Pro Football Reference's play index database.

Of the 62 offensive plays Tampa Bay ran, nine of them -- almost 15 percent -- went for 20 or more yards, and all but one of those came through the air.

"I thought Fitz did an awesome job of giving guys a chance to make plays," said Tampa Bay coach Dirk Koetter.

Playing without starting quarterback Jameis Winston, the Buccaneers were not content to play conservative. They did not turn the ball over to the ground game to try and grind out a win, and they did not tell Fitzpatrick to settle for high percentage throws.

No, Tampa Bay stamped the accelerator and did not let up until late in the game when it was trying to bleed the clock.

Watch the 58-yard touchdown Fitzpatrick threw to DeSean Jackson on Tampa Bay's first possession, a signal that the Buccaneers and their backup quarterback were ready to play.

Fitzpatrick had plenty of time to sling his 50-yard bomb to Mike Evans in the third quarter, a textbook example of a cohesive offensive unit combining for an explosive play.

The Saints sent six pass rushers on the play, but the Bucs stonewalled the blitz. Evans beat Marshon Lattimore's press coverage and did not let up once he got a step behind the Saints corner. Fitzpatrick was able to step into his throw, and it was on the money.

"It was single (coverage)," Lattimore said. "I got to be there. I'm out on the island by myself, no help, no nothing. He had a cut split, and he made a play."

The 36-yard touchdown strike down the deep middle to Jackson in the fourth quarter -- again, in perfect stride to a Bucs receiver who beat single coverage, this time with Jackson running by Ken Crawley after getting him to turn his hips the wrong way -- provided the cushion the Buccaneers needed to win the game.

"I think we matched up fine with who they had," said safety Kurt Coleman. "I'll take my guys over anybody in the league, no doubt. But honestly? People made plays, let's not blow this out of proportion. They made some plays, we needed to make more."

Not helping the cause for the Saints secondary was the absence of a pass rush on Fitzpatrick. The Saints did not record a single sack and only hurried Fitzpatrick on two occasions.

The Buccaneers neutralized the rush from Saints' All Pro defensive end Cam Jordan, not allowing him to get close to Fitzpatrick. Watching from the sideline, Saints left tackle Terron Armstead thought Tampa Bay schemed well against Jordan.

"They had two or three guys hitting Cam Jordan every play," Armstead said. "That's smart."

It was nowhere close to the start the Saints envisioned themselves having defensively in 2018. The group that thrived on making big plays of its own expected much more Sunday.

The good news is the Saints have virtually an entire season to turn it around -- though that is only good news if they find a way to make that happen.

"At the end of the day, we got to go back and see what we did wrong and just step it up. That's all we got to do," Lattimore said. "We're not going to fall apart because of this."